Life among the monkey hunters: The Amazon tribe that has evolved flat feet after years of catching primates to eat by climbing trees

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The Huaorani tribe - there are only 4,000 of them - live a simple life in the rainforests of eastern Ecuador

They live off the land, shooting blowpipes to kill monkeys, which they then skin and roast over open fires

They also eat peccary pigs and toucans as well as plants and herbs which they have foraged in the forests

Their lifestyle has led to their feet evolving - most have very flat feet, which help them to climb the trees

In 1990 the Ecuadorean government set up the Waorani Ethnic Reserve to protect the forest they live in

Photographer Pete Oxford said: 'One of my greatest joys is spending time with people unlike myself'

There are no fast food restaurants or grocery stores in the rainforests of eastern Ecuador, so if the Huaorani people want to eat they go out with a blowpipe and shoot a monkey.

They are experts at shinning up trees and lying in wait for the primates, which they kill with poisoned darts fired from blowpipes.

There are less than 4,000 people in the Huaorani tribe and the small gene pool, along with the constant tree-climbing has led to them developing very flat feet, many of which have six toes. Some also have six fingers.

Monkey meat is a staple of their diet, which also includes peccary pigs and toucans aswell as plants and herbs foraged in the forest by the women.

however certain driving forces can still influence the 'evolutionary' path taken. for example flat feet are more suited to climbing trees, meaning those that had a genetic mutation giving them flat feet survived while others with regular feet did not, after years of this driving force determining who survives and who dies, the only ones left are the flat feet mutants. making it look like they evolved by adaptation not mutation.